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Adding glitter to a pair of underused shoes isn’t exactly a new idea – in fact, I’d go so far as to call it a blogosphere trend. I Spy DIY did it with oxfords; A Pair and a Spare did it with Louboutin pumps; and my talented friend Bianca from A Lust for All Seasons did it with not one, not two, but THREE pairs of underappreciated heels.

We all know how I feel about glitter. And shoes. So clearly, I had to try this.

Le Fanciulle also DIYed a pair of these. I searched everywhere for a zip-up tapered ankle boot (my mom says these are called Beatle boots), but couldn’t find a perfect match. Finally, I gave up and ordered a pair of cowboy-style boots from Old Navy. They were on sale for $22, so I figured if I screwed up, I wouldn’t be too upset.

I scuffed them up a bit with coarse grit sandpaper so that the glue would adhere better, and then taped the edges with the only material I had handy – painters’ tape.

Oh, how nice. My TV remote made it into the photo.

I’ve seen a wide variety of glue used in these projects. I went with Mod Podge Matte. The real boots – and Le Fanciulle’s DIY version – use coarse glitter, but I was afraid that I wasn’t skilled enough to get coarse glitter to look even, so I went with ultra fine. (It’s Recollections brand, with both “champagne” and “copper” mixed together.)

I started off mixing even parts of glue and glitter, but found that my mixture didn’t look glittery enough, so I dumped a bunch more in.

In an attempt to maximize my sparkle capacity, I started off applying the mixture very thickly.

But I noticed right away that the glue was drying wonky, and the thicker parts were attempting to slide down the boot onto my repurposed bridal magazine. Bastards! Get back here!

I smoothed everything out, and from then on, applied the mixture in thin, even layers. At this point, I also noticed that the boot was trying to wrinkle itself while drying, so I stuffed it with some more repurposed magazine pages. Then, it was time to sit back and let the boots dry.

This part was boring, so I went off in search of more items to glitter. Unfortunately, all I could find were a silver box and a fake lemon. The silver box came out kind of cool. The lemon did not.

Oh, well. I let the boots dry an hour, then added another coat of glitter-glue. When the second coat was almost dry, I took the tape off. My thesis was that if the glitter-glue was still slightly wet, I could potentially fix any screw-ups.

My thesis was correct! I love when that happens. See the kind of drippy, uneven edges above the heel? Because the glitter-glue was still squishy, I was able to kind of push the extra bits into the crease with my fingernail.

I let all the glitter-glue dry overnight, and the next day, I added another layer of Mod Podge (sans glitter) to seal everything in. Et voila! Doneskies!

They’re cute, right? I kind of wish I had tried the coarse glitter, but I still like them. Do you? Get a little closer.

I want to add some trim to separate the glittered and non-glittered parts, but I’m not really sure what to use, or how to attach it. Suede cord? Thin grosgrain ribbon? Leather cord? Super glue? Hot glue? More Mod Podge? I need to think about it. Any tips?

Here’s a picture of the boots on actual feet. The Hubs wasn’t home to take the photo for me, so this was the best I could do in the mirror. Better than nothing, right?

Anyone else have a fun DIY fashion project to share? (I think this is my first one!) I want to see yours!